Fellow Wine Lovers,
And now it’s April, it’s summertime and the world still seems to be in a bit of a tangle. Looking into the archives, it seems this is not a new situation – on Friday 5th April 2019 we wrote:
‘News reaches us that Ukraine may be in line to get a comedian as President. Leading the race in first round of Presidential elections is popular TV comedian Volodymyr Zelensky. I see no problem with it at all; we have 649 jokers in our parliament, whilst the US has a TV star in the top role who definitely knows his oranges, what could possibly go wrong.’
Whilst on Friday 5th April 2013, we seemed a tad chilly:
It’s been snowing too much recently, it’s been too damn windy and frankly our small oil-fired radiator is having to work too hard. If it wasn’t our own business we would take industrial action against our inhumane working conditions. The Bordeaux we had on tasting last week became a study in tannins as the shop chilled down whilst the Eiswein was standing there in his shorts and flip-flops wandering what all the fuss was about. Oh and I may well have started hallucinating…
So what news does Friday 5th April 2024 bring us?
Well, firstly that we missed the party of the year on Wednesday evening, when everyone’s ‘favourite’ Nigel turned 60. With a guest list of luminaries including:
- Lee Anderson
- Arron Banks
- Nick Candy
- Derek Chisora
- Lizzie Cundy
- Jim Davidson
- Sir David Davis
- Mark Francois
- Andrea Jenkyns
- Andrew Rosindell
- MT Stevens
- Richard Tice
- Georgia Toffolo
- Liz Truss
- Holly Valance
I have to say, we were very glad to have missed out
Interesting fact about Nigel. Wayne bumped into him many years ago, just off Victoria Street and noted in his Filofax that Mr Farage was far shorter than him but not as short as Gilles Peterson (funny what comparisons people make) – anyway, work that into a dinner party conversation this weekend and we’ll buy you a drink!
In the world of booze, conflicting messages are coming from all sides. In one article we read that Nyetimber, the famous sparkling producer, has agreed a deal in principle to buy The Lakes Distillery, a Cumbrian producer of single malt whisky and other spirits, in a £46.1 million deal. Nyetimber would also inherit a debt of £25.8 million upon acquisition, bringing the true value to approximately £71 million – that’s a lot of bottles of fizz to shift!
Elsewhere, Adnams, the Suffolk brewery with over 1oo years in the trade, has made noises in the market that it wouldn’t be against the prospect of a full sale of the company, given the parlous state of the industry currently and the marked increase in insolvencies.
So one company is looking to accumulate whilst another is considering getting out completely – who will prove to be right?
Meanwhile, Glyndebourne, the famous Sussex Opera Festival, has announced that Bolney Wine Estate is now their official wine partner, which is very exciting news. More exciting still, you don’t have to wait until the Summer, take a drive down the M23 or pretend to like Opera, as you can pick up a bottle of Bolney Estate Foxhole Vineyard Brut Reserve NV – £33.00 from usright here in Wimbledon Park!
Elsewhere, we welcome back the sound of leather on willow as the County Championship cricket season starts today and will continue until 29th September, which feels a life time away. If the conversation at the dinner party seems to be hitting a slump again, Surrey are probably favourites to win it, Essex would be a good back up bet whilst Kent, the garden of England, should perhaps stick to the landscaping.
Back to wine now though, what shall we taste this weekend? In 2019 we tasted a posh Verdicchio and a posh Rioja whilst in 2013 we tasted two wines from Portugal that we can no longer get hold of. Sensing no obvious theme to our April 5th tasting selections we thought we’d get out of Europe this year and get some sun in the southern hemisphere. From Marlborough we have:
Staete Landt ‘Josephine’ Chardonnay 2020 – £23.79. Land (discovered in honour) of the Governors (Staete) of the Dutch Republic. In 1642, Staete Landt was the working title Abel Tasman gave to the newly discovered lands now known as New Zealand and Ruud Maasdam decided to honour this name when he set up the winery in the 1990’s.
The ‘Josephine’ Chardonnay is one of the best kept secrets of the Estate: full and round yet stylish, great texture and length, this wine shows the perfect balance between fruit, acidity and oak integration. A whiff of sea breeze, citrus fruit and cream on the nose, white peaches on the palate and with a mineral aftertaste that lingers on. A truly great wine with a strong personality and European elegance
For the red, we go to Constantia:
Beau Constantia Lucca 2019 – £29.99. 2019 was a difficult vintage with very low production throughout the region, related in no small measure to the after effects of 4 years of drought. For the first time Cabernet Franc was the prominent grape (53%) with Merlot making up the balance.
An appealing nose of cedar wood and black cherry is complemented by some tart cranberry on the palate. This mix of fresh fruit and spice is beautifully complemented by fine-boned tannins and Megan, the winemaker, thoroughly recommends some medium-rare game with chimichurri, which seems totally reasonable!
That’s all from us, enjoy your weekend but do remind me before you go, who’s taller – Gilles, Wayne or Nigel?